Bulk venders, colloquially known as "gum ball machines", are widely used for dispensing confectionaries and other small articles. A typical bulk vender has a hopper assembly comprising a transparent globe which functions as a merchandise storage bin, seated over a dispensing wheel which revolves in a hopper. A patron deposits the required coinage into the coin mechanism and turns the handle, which rotates the dispensing wheel to convey a preset amount of merchandise to the inlet of a dispensing chute. The hopper assembly is located over a body which is mounted on a base, defining a secure compartment containing a cash box into which the coin mechanism ejects the deposited coins.
Bulk venders are typically purchased and maintained by vender operators, who install and service the venders at high traffic locations such as shopping malls, restaurants and the like. The operator periodically re-stocks the venders and collects the proceeds from the sale of articles dispensed by the venders, and typically remits a portion of the proceeds to the owner of the premises. A large vender operator may operate many hundreds of bulk venders, employing service personnel to service the venders and deliver the coins which have accumulated within the cash box to the operator.
Bulk venders are intended particularly for use in unsupervised public areas, and as such are designed to resist tampering, theft and vandalism by patrons. However, since it is not feasible to track the number of articles dispensed from each vender, so that the vender operator can never know how many coins should be collected from any particular vender during a service call, the operator is vulnerable to the theft of coins by the operator's service personnel. The operator can also be vulnerable to the substitution of slugs for coins by service personnel before the collected coins are delivered to the operator. In either case the operator's proceeds can be significantly reduced.
It is accordingly desirable to provide a lockable cash box for a bulk vender which can be removed in its entirety by service personnel, but remains in a locked condition and can be unlocked only by the operator, the contents of the cash box being thereby inaccessible to service personnel. This would significantly reduce or eliminate opportunities for theft or "skimming" by service personnel prior to delivery of the proceeds to the operator.